ELECTION '96.

Refocused Dole Wins Mixed Reviews

June 02, 1996|By Thomas Hardy, Tribune Staff Writer.

Two weeks after Republican Bob Dole's dramatic announcement that he would resign from the Senate to campaign full-time for president, the candidate had come full circle, back to Chicago and working the sidewalk crowds.

Dole had set out after May 15 to reintroduce himself to voters; to distance himself from his fellow Washington insiders, President Clinton and the unpopular GOP majority in Congress; to rally his desultory campaign and energize a listless Republican rank-and-file; and, ultimately, to erase the 20-point advantage Clinton enjoyed in early polls. He started with a rally in Chicago and in two weeks visited eight battleground states, including Illinois twice.

Mission accomplished? Points of view and poll findings vary.

Dole and Republican Party leaders declared the crucial two-week period a success, principally in solidifying the GOP base. Democrats gave him credit for re-energizing the campaign but they argued that swing voters responded to Dole with little more than a second glance.

The decisions to leave the Senate and doff his Washington power suit were bold indications of his willingness to take a risk, "characteristics of leadership that people look for," said associate professor Bruce Newman of DePaul University, author of the 1993 book "Marketing of the Presidency."

But, Newman said, "Dole was obvious in attempting to manipulate his image, and didn't score points because of that."

In fact, one of the few national polls to come out since Dole's resignation, by ABC News and the Washington Post, showed that while voters approved of Dole's resigning from the Senate, they still weren't ready to switch their vote to him.

The Kansas senator traveled to Republican strongholds and hammered at Clinton with conservative themes that for a generation have been the hallmarks of winning GOP campaigns: welfare reform, crime fighting, lower taxes and balanced budgets, values, and a smaller federal government with more power returned to the states.

The subtext of every Dole speech was that Clinton is a defender of a failed liberal Democratic orthodoxy and is not to be trusted.

In Chicago on Thursday, Dole asserted that his exhortations at rallies and fundraisers had restored confidence among Republicans and that his own polling shows him closing the gap.

"I see a lot of energy out there," Dole said. "I try to be realistic because I've been in this business for a while. I think that people feel that if I've made a total commitment and I'm serious about this, then maybe the rest of them ought to get serious about this when it comes to raising money and when it comes to working."

Although Dole steered clear of Pat Buchanan and his hot-button issues of economic anxiety--trade protectionism and affirmative action--he did meet with flat-tax advocate Steve Forbes and reportedly is considering an economic program that includes a tax cut and a simpler income tax rate structure.

Campaigning in Ohio Friday, Dole said that although his program is certain to include tax cuts, he remains concerned about the deficit and that a balanced budget "must be our first obligation."

Earlier in the week, Dole made his pitch to Republican loyalists.

"I like what he's saying. I think he's our man," Brian Brown, 53, a small-business owner in Highland, Calif., said Wednesday after listening to Dole at a local GOP rally.

In Clifton, N.J., another middle-class town on the Dole itinerary, fellow World War II veteran Al Rembish, 70, had watched Dole lay a wreath at a Memorial Day ceremony and voiced confidence in the Republican's ability to overtake Clinton.

"It was a smart move to leave the Senate," Rembish said. "This way he can go out and really push his platform. Other candidates have come back from further behind. The campaign is just starting now."

In every battleground state from New Jersey to California--Dole also made stops in Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin and Colorado--the candidate reassured Republicans that he will return often, contesting for every vote and not abandoning the bottom of the ticket.

"The party faithful need to know they're going to have a candidate who is aggressive and is going to take the Republican message out to the battlefield," said Ed Murnane, a senior Illinois adviser to the Dole camp and a onetime aide to President George Bush.

Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar contended that Dole's efforts since May 15 won't necessarily show up in polls. "But he's got the troops a lot more motivated, a lot more confident that this is a serious campaign," Edgar said.

Democratic reviews were mixed.

"They've got a new operation going over there, and it looks a lot more like a presidential campaign," Chicago-based strategist David Axelrod said.

Still, Democratic pollster Peter Hart noted independent polls indicated Dole's decision to quit the Senate had not swayed voters to his side and a slight erosion of Clinton's support coincided with the fraud convictions last week of Arkansas Gov. Jim Guy Tucker and the president's former partners in the Whitewater real estate investment.

Hart acknowledged that Dole's campaign stepped up its energy and was able to engage Clinton on several issues.

"But I don't think that people have opened the window and looked at him anew, where they think: `This is a different person, I've got a new perspective on him,' " Hart said.